Raise your voice, open your mind, unlock your imagination

The poem Out of the blue by Simon Armitage is about the 9/11 incident. 9/11 was an attack on September 11th where there were a series of four coordinated attacks directed at the world trade center. In the poem we look at a individual at the top as the towers as they burn down. This perspective is from a bystander on the streets as they hear out to the story being told of the person tapped in the building. “The heat behind me is bullying, driving, but the white of surrender is not yet flying”. I believe this part of the poem gives a strong meaning towards it. It tells us that this individual had two choices while in the building, which was to let the heat win or to jump. I believe the trapped citizen would be feeling scared, trapped, defeated. I believe i am able to relate to this individuals situation. Feeling trapped and defeated from three sicknesses i have been through, feeling like there is no way to get past it. Where you either have two options, to either just give up or to go on with your life and see where it leads to.

I believe the feeling of feeling helpless can destroy everything, putting an image in your mind of not having an option to get out of the situation that you are stuck in. For the situation that the person in the World Trade Center i believe in the end they began to feel helpless, by not having an option to be saved and had to let the situation occur. For me with my illness i believe i have a similar situation where i have to not panic about it but to let it happen and for it to fix itself over time being something that i cannot decide in the outcome of it.

Also in the poem Out of the blue the poet uses a strategy of repetition for example “Waving, waving”, “Watching, Watching”, “Appalling, Appalling” and more. The writer uses repetition to emphasize feeling or an idea, create rhythm or to develop a sense of urgency. I believe the poet used this strategy in this poem to set a point of the majority of actions the bystanders and individuals in the building were doing at the time of the incident.